A Cayman delegation sought to increase awareness among leading technology companies about the benefits of doing business from the Cayman Enterprise City (CEC), which was launched in 2011. Cayman representations reached out to company representatives from Oracle, Microsoft, Google, Cisco, and Adobe, among others.

McLaughlin spoke to the conference about Cayman's sophisticated IT infrastructure and the tax and non-tax perks offered by the CEC tax-free zone.

PwC said it experienced strong growth in the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. Revenues also rose in Europe despite the troubled economy in some European countries. PwC’s global workforce now tops 195,000, with a record number of 20,000 graduates joining the firm in fiscal year 2014.

PwC noted that revenue growth was strong across all lines of business for all of the largest firms in its global network and in all geographic regions. "With organizations and our stakeholders around the world looking to PwC to help build trust in society and solve important problems, PwC firms continued to perform very well in FY 2014,” said PricewaterhouseCoopers International Ltd. Dennis M. Nally in a statement.

]]>FROM THE PROFESSIONMon, 13 Oct 2014 12:38:23 GMTExecutive coaching in the accounting profession is gaining popularityhttp://saiba.site-ym.com/news/197312/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/197312/The use of executive coaching as a leadership development tool is becoming increasingly popular within the accounting profession. And as it gains momentum, the way in which firms are using professional coaches is advancing. While most organizations choose to hire external coaches, some—like EY—are moving toward the use of in-house coaching teams.

As a fellow coach working with CPAs, I was curious to learn what the EY team is up to and how we can all learn from an industry leader. Fortunately, Alison Hooker, EY Americas Chief Talent Development Officer, and Dawn Pons, EY Americas Director of Executive Coaching, were happy to give me the inside scoop.

]]>FROM THE PROFESSIONFri, 10 Oct 2014 10:15:08 GMTSmall business owners have a good feeling about 2015http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/195982/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/195982/A new survey from online accounting software provider Xero found that nearly 90 percent of small businesses are forecasting an increase in revenues next year, while 21 percent are expecting growth of more than 100 percent.

The optimism among small business owners for 2015 is based on significant growth their businesses achieved this year. Of the more than 300 small business owners surveyed, 81 percent experienced revenue growth in 2014, while 22 percent reported gains of more than 100 percent.

Also, small business owners who worked this year with a professional accountant, such as a CPA, and used online accounting software saw their company’s revenues increase by 16 percent compared to business owners who did not work with an accountant but used an online accounting platform, according to the survey.

Snowden said professionals were failing in their obligations to their clients, sources, patients and parishioners in what he described as a new and challenging world.

"What last year's revelations showed us was irrefutable evidence that unencrypted communications on the internet are no longer safe. Any communications should be encrypted by default," he said.

The response of professional bodies has so far been patchy.

A minister at the Home Office in London, James Brokenshire, said during a Commons debate about a new surveillance bill on Tuesday that a code of practice to protect legal professional privilege and others requiring professional secrecy was under review.

Snowden's plea for the professions to tighten security came during an extensive and revealing interview with the Guardian in Moscow.

The former National Security Agency and CIA computer specialist, wanted by the US under the Espionage Act after leaking tens of thousands of top secret documents, has given only a handful of interviews since seeking temporary asylum in Russia a year ago.

In lieu of the above need to protect personal information Accountants need to consider the implications of the Protection of Personal Information Act.

Simply put, the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) sets conditions for what companies can do with information about their customers.

According to BiZConnect POPI protects personal information by restricting how it can be collected and used by a company, organisation or person, and sets out eight principles:

1. Accountability:

The responsible party (those who process the personal information) must ensure that all of the Act’s principles and the measures are complied with.

2. Processing limitation:

Processing of information must be done lawfully and in a manner that does not infringe the privacy of the individual. Personal information can only be processed if the processing is adequate, relevant and not excessive, given the purpose for which it is to be used.

3. Purpose specification:

Personal information must only be collected for a specific purpose and the individuals must be aware of this. Records must not be kept for longer than necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was collected.

4. Further processing limitation:

Further processing of the information must be compatible with the purpose of collection.

5. Information quality:

The holder of the data must take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is complete, accurate, not misleading and updated when necessary. All the while, taking into account the purpose for which the information was initially collected.

6. Openness:

Steps are required to ensure that the data subject is aware of the personal information being collected and the purpose of collection.

7. Security safeguards:

The responsible party must secure the personal information under their possession/control. Should a security breach occur, the responsible party must notify the subject whose information is compromised.

8. Data subject participation:

The data subject can request whether an organisation holds their private information, and what information is held. They may also request the correction or deletion of information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading or obtained unlawfully.

POPI Will Make it Essential for Prospects and Customers to Agree to Receive Your Communication

Stretch points out, “Specifically relating to the running of SMS marketing campaigns, direct marketers cannot use personal information for direct marketing unless they have the consumer’s permission. In the case of a direct marketing organisation, they must have ‘opted in’.”

The consumer can “opt-in” in one of two ways:

1. Firstly, the consumer can give his or her explicit consent to receive direct marketing.This would ideally be obtained when the information is collected, but a direct marketer can also approach the consumer for consent later. If it does this, it can only approach the consumer once for consent.

A direct marketer must get a consumer’s contact details in the first place to approach the consumer for consent. Unless these contact details were in the public domain, such as a telephone directory, merely obtaining the contact details could be an infringement of POPI.

For example, if a direct marketer received a list of individuals and their contact details from a company that collects and sells marketing information, the data vendor would itself have infringed POPI by passing the list on to the direct marketer, even if the direct marketer never actually uses any of the information contained in the list. Unless the individual specifically consented to their information being passed on.

2. Secondly, if the consumer is a customer of the direct marketer (and not of anyone else) then the direct marketer can use their information for direct marketing ONLY if:

The data was obtained in the context of the sale of a product or service, and

The direct marketing will be in respect of the marketer’s OWN similar goods/services, and

The consumer has been given a reasonable opportunity to object to receipt of direct marketing both when the data was first collected and on each occasion when direct marketing is made to the consumer.

POPI infringement: The Consequences Will be Harsh

POPI makes provision for enforcement notices to be served on those infringing the data protection principles or the direct marketing provisions of POPI. Failure to comply with an enforcement notice is an offence, and on conviction may lead to a fine, up to 10 years in prison, or both.

Perhaps more seriously, says Stretch, if a data subject suffers any loss as a result of an infringement, the responsible person will be strictly liable for this loss. In other words, it does not matter if the responsible person was negligent, or acted intentionally in infringing POPI – if the infringement caused loss to the consumer, the responsible person is liable.

]]>EDITORIALWed, 30 Jul 2014 05:42:35 GMTUrgent Notice from SARS affecting Tax Practitionershttp://saiba.site-ym.com/news/175615/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/175615/We have been informed by our sister organisation, The South African Institute of Tax Practitioners (SAIT) that SARS has made the following important announcement today:

SARS notified tax controlling bodies that all services, including as eFiling privileges, offered by SARS to tax practitioners who are not registered with SARS and a ‘recognised controlling body’ will be stopped by Thursday, 5 June 2014.

All SAIBA members that act as tax practitioners and have not yet registered with SAIT need to urgently take corrective action.

Section 240 of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 21 of 2012 requires that every person that provides advice to another person with respect to the application of a Tax Act or completes or assists in completing a tax return on behalf of another must register as a tax practitioner with SARS, and a recognised controlling body i.e. SAIT.

Practitioners that did not register by 1 July 2013 may be guilty of a criminal offence and will not be able to advise clients on their tax affairs or complete tax returns. In addition SARS will now stop providing any services to these unregistered tax practitioners.

The MOU between SAIBA and SAIT will enable SAIBA members that have been awarded the SAIBA designation "Business Accountant in Practice" to register with SAIT. As a SAIT member you will be able to act as a tax practitioner.

Click here to read the details about the SAIBA/SAIT MOU that entitles you to 50% discount on membership fees. In essence the MOU allows SAIBA to act as the controlling body for accountants/accounting officers/independent reviewers, whilst SAIT is the controlling body for tax practitioners.

If you know of colleagues that have not yet registered with SAIBA and SAIT please inform them of this important notice from SARS and get them registered.

]]>TAXMon, 2 Jun 2014 07:01:38 GMTSurvey to improve professional learninghttp://saiba.site-ym.com/news/174635/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/174635/Help establish how best mobile devices can be leveraged in professional skills development by taking this Wits University survey. It should take 15 - 20 minutes to complete. The results of this survey will be used to inform how SAIBA should provide access to relevant learning opportunities for CPD purposes to its members. Please complete the survey by 30 June 2014.

]]>FROM THE PROFESSIONTue, 27 May 2014 07:25:04 GMTIFRS 11 Joint Arrangements amendments publishedhttp://saiba.site-ym.com/news/172602/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/172602/IFRS 11 addresses the accounting for interests in joint ventures and joint operations. The amendments made are in response to a recommendation by the IRFS Interpretations Committee, which had identified that diversity in practice had arisen in this context, since it was unclear whether the acquirer of such interests in joint operations should apply the principles in IFRS 3, Business Combinations, on initial recognition of the interest or whether the acquirer should instead account for it as the acquisition of a group of assets.

]]>ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL REPORTING Mon, 12 May 2014 21:00:08 GMTIssuing EME certificates http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/172145/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/172145/The IRBA has also issued a BBBEE Assurance Standard for auditors called the South African Standard on Assurance Engagement (SASAE) 3502. Accounting officer are not bound by this standard but will find this standard useful when issuing EME certificates. It is recommended that accounting officers follow the same procedures as prescribed for auditors, prior to issuing an EME certificate.

]]>ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL REPORTING Wed, 7 May 2014 19:12:07 GMTAccountants - Acting in public or private interest?http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/171960/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/171960/What implications does this have for accountants and auditors - who by way of legislation receive a government licence to prepare and review client financial statements?

In short, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) mandated Cash Paymaster, a private company, to administer social grant payouts on its behalf. However the tender process by which Cash Paymaster was appointed was questioned by a another provider All Pay. The case was heard in various courts and final judgement was issued by the Constitution Court in April 2014.

It was clear to the Court that SASSA was an organ of state, however "...for the purposes of the impugned contract, so too is Cash Paymaster. In determining whether an entity is an organ of state, the presence or absence of governmental control over that entity is a factor, but in our constitutional era, is not determinative. In Cash Paymaster’s case the “control test” is not helpful; although it may be independent from SASSA’s control, the function that it performs – the country-wide administration of the payment of social grants – is fundamentally public in nature".

It is an constitutional imperative that organ's of State should be subject to public scrutiny. This implies access to decisions, motives, contracts, and accounts. Similarly if Cash Paymaster performs constitutional mandated services on behalf of a State organ then CashPaymaster will itself be considered an organ of State and subject to the same governance standards, including public scrutiny.

This view is supported by Thina Siwendu, director at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr: "...in terms of this decision, by tapping the state for contracts, a private company might soon find itself in a position where it has to disclose pertinent aspects around its operational and financial business to improve transparency and accountability...It seems the ambit of a private company's accountability reaches beyond the meaning and interpretation of "public interest" as well as its public interest score as narrowly defined in the Companies Act".

Accountants and the public interest

Accountants that act as auditors or accounting officers in effect receive a licence from the state to perform a specific legislative function i.e. issue a report on financial statements. As such, a question can be raised whether they are therefore subject to public scrutiny, transparency and accountability in the same manner as organs of State.

For example, should their working papers be available for public inspection? Should their governing bodies, through which they receive their licences, be treated as organs of State?

The key here is that auditors and accountants do not perform a constitutionally mandated service on behalf of the State. Examples of constitutionally mandated services are section 26 (housing), 27 (social services) and 29 (education) of the Constitution. According to this interpretation auditors and accountants are not subject to the public interest rule as per the Constitution.

However, the accountancy profession as a whole has voluntarily adopted a general public interest rule as a governing framework for all accountants.

The voluntary acceptance by accountants to act in the public interest has some serious implications.

On the one hand it provides support to the arguments that accountants and auditors, and their governing bodies, should receive special licences from the State to perform their work. For example certain companies are required to be audited and only registered auditors may perform such work; only registered tax practitioner that belong to a private controlling body may perform tax work for the public.

On the other hand the public interest concept stretches far wider that just the preparation of financial statements as an accountant or the performance of an audit or completion of a tax return.

What makes this case interesting is that the judgement did not relate to Deloitte's work as auditors but as consultants.

According to the FRC the decision will “send a strong and clear message to all members of the accountancy profession about their responsibility to act in the public interest and comply with their code of ethics.”

Deloitte argues that this decision could have negative implications for the advice that can be provided by members of professional bodies.

According to the judgement Deloitte “put their own interests ahead of that of the public and compromised their own objectivity” and found "no evidence to suggest the public interest" had been "considered adequately at all." Deloitte had failed to act in the public interest in its role as financial advisers to their client.

Deloitte has appealed the decision.

What next?

It is not clear how the public interest rule will develop within the South African context. It may be that SA regulators hold accountants and auditors accountable to their stated objective to act in the public interest.

If the UK approach is followed it may mean that accountants will have to act not in the best interest of their clients but in the interest of the broader community, and ultimately in a developmental state, the State itself.

Alternatively the profession will need to reconsider the extent of their commitment to the public interest rule.

The outcome will determine if accountants and auditors in effect become agents of the State or advisors to their clients.

]]>EDITORIALWed, 7 May 2014 13:53:49 GMTA changing professionhttp://saiba.site-ym.com/news/168167/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/168167/Ernst and Young reports that the most common level of education for a CFO is a degree in finance (29%), followed by a MBA (27%), chartered accountancy qualification (27%), other post-graduate degree (13%), other university degree (13%), business/accountancy related bachelor’s degree (11%), company secretary/cost accountant (5%), and PhD (3%).

A growing number of new chief audit executives are coming from outside the internal audit profession. A survey revealed that before becoming a CAEs, 19 percent of the survey respondents held management position in accounting or finance, 9 percent held a management position in a professional service firm, 4 percent held a management position in operations, while 3 percent held a management position in compliance.

Following this trend SAIBA has positioned itself to be the home for all accounting and finance professionals, whether in commerce or in practice.

Our designation Business Accountant (SA) is available to any employed person performing an accounting or finance function irrespective of their prior qualification. So whether you qualified as a HR practitioner, attorney, engineer, or anything in between - if you are in finance you belong to us.

The South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNSP) has published revised fees for registration and annual subscription as appropriate for different categories of professional registration.

These updated fees for the 2014/15 year which are made in terms of the Natural Scientific Professions Act (2003) are effective from 1 April 2014.

The Employment Services Act (2014) which was signed by President Jacob Zuma on 3 April 2014 has been published in the Government Gazette this week.

The new act aims to repeal all the employment services provisions contained in the Skills Development Act (1998) and to provide for a range of measures to promote employment and to also regulate the employment of foreigners.

]]>LEGISLATION WATCHWed, 9 Apr 2014 09:24:13 GMT10 worst excuses people gave for filing late tax returnshttp://saiba.site-ym.com/news/168112/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/168112/The UK Tax Office HMRC published its list of its oddest 10 excuses it has received for those who failed to file on time - ranging from a dead goldfish to an altercation with a bovine animal.

The list includes:

My pet goldfish died (self-employed builder)

I had a run-in with a cow (Midlands farmer)

After seeing a volcanic eruption on the news, I couldn’t concentrate on anything else (London woman)

My wife won’t give me my mail (self-employed trader)

My husband told me the deadline was 31 March, and I believed him (Leicester hairdresser)

I’ve been far too busy touring the country with my one-man play (Coventry writer)

]]>TAXTue, 8 Apr 2014 21:14:02 GMTServices only auditors may provide http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166919/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166919/A number of acts, regulations and policies require the appointment of an auditor to issue an auditors report. An auditor is a person registered with the IRBA. Only registered auditors may perform the following engagements. SAICA, SAIPA and SAIBA members that are not registered auditors may not perform the following work:

The list is not complete and will be updated in due course. SAIBA continuously engage with relevant regulators and departments to obtain additional recognition for SAIBA members.

Auditor of companies and other entities

Executor of deceased estates

Attorneys trust accounts

Independent reviewer of non-owner managed companies with a public interest score of between 100 and 349

Estate agents trust accounts

Travel agents and travel agencies

Agricultural produce agents

B-BBEE verification agents for measured entities

Sheriffs of the courts

Drought scheme for farmers

Honorary auditor for club, institute or association

]]>AUDIT AND ASSURANCEMon, 31 Mar 2014 17:49:02 GMTServices BAP(SA) may provide http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166918/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166918/Business Accountants in Practice (SA) are recognised in legislation to perform the a range of services. THis includes compilation to independent review engagements. SAIBA has produced a detailed guide that will assist Business Accountants in Practice (SA) to perform their work to the required standards.

The following services may be performed by Business Accountants in Practice (SA):

]]>AUDIT AND ASSURANCEMon, 31 Mar 2014 17:42:45 GMTCPD Deadlinehttp://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166827/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166827/The CPD Monitoring Cycle started 31 January 2014. If you have not submitted your CPD Declaration you need to do so immediately. All professional bodies, including SAIBA, are obligated to promote and monitor CPD. This ensure that SAIBA members can continue to act as accounting officers and achieve recognition in the workplace.

This declaration covers the period ending 30 June 2013. The CPD policy requires that you obtain 120 hours of CPD in a three year cycle. The cycle runs from 1 July - 30 June of each year. If you joined mid year the CPD requirement is proportionate.

The monitoring process consist of:

Members uploading their CPD hours online at www.saiba.org.za. Go to www.saiba.org.za and click on sign in. Sign in as a member and submit your CPD points.

If your hours are not up to date then please visit our CPD events page to ensure you gain the required hours. Or contact our CPD provider www.accountingacademy.co.za for a list of recorded DVDs.

]]>FROM THE PROFESSIONMon, 31 Mar 2014 09:53:54 GMTFair dismissal has no place in contractshttp://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166672/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166672/Read more.]]>LAW AND REGULATION Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:43:08 GMTWorld Congress of Accountants http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166670/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166670/The next World Congress of Accountants (WCOA) will be held November 10-13, 2014 in Rome, Italy, Full details are available on the WCOA 2014 website. The congress is a unique opportunity for the accountancy profession to observe and leverage on past experiences and to develop a new vision for the future. The full brochure is available here.

]]>FROM THE PROFESSIONFri, 28 Mar 2014 16:10:40 GMTTen Tips for New Executiveshttp://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166658/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166658/In my old age, I would like to believe that some of the things I have learned might help those who are now plowing the fields I once worked. So here are 10 suggestions I wish someone had given me when I was 40 and beginning my run as an executive. I made the mistake of violating many of them but not all.

1. The less you confide in others in the organization, the better it will go for you. What you intend as harmless chatter can do serious harm. Keep your speculations and worries to yourself.

2. Be sure to manage down. Spend time with the lower-level employees in your company and try to be decent to all of them. A polite greeting to the elevator operator, a thanks to the mail delivery person and a kind word to the assistants will be appreciated. The making of reputations begins at the ground level. Similarly, keep the ugly aspects of your day to yourself. Do not shout.

]]>MANAGEMENTFri, 28 Mar 2014 15:26:16 GMTSharia Compliant Instruments and Transactionshttp://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166487/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166487/In 2011, the IASB (the Board) conducted a consultation on topics to be included in its technical agenda. As a consequence of that consultation, the Board decided to establish a consultative group (the Group) on Shariah-Compliant Instruments and Transactions. The Group held an organizational meeting in Kuala Lumpur in July 2013.

The Group intends to focus on challenges that may arise in the application to instruments and transactions commonly referred to as Islamic finance and to invite papers on those challenges and, after reviewing those papers, to make recommendations to the Board about steps that it might take.

The first topic for papers, is whether some or all of the Islamic products typically owned by Islamic banks qualify for amortized-cost classification. If the answer is “yes,” on what basis? In the answer is “no”, what steps, if any, the Board should take to either clarify the classification of these contracts or to amend IFRS 9?

]]>ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL REPORTING Thu, 27 Mar 2014 16:32:17 GMTCIPC News http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166471/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166471/SAIBA is part of the CIPC Stakeholder Meetings. A meeting to discuss practitioner issues was held in March and we provide a short summary of that meeting below.

Barcoded MOI's requested by banks

There was an issue with the banks and the new standard MOI's without barcodes. The bank's did not want to accept these MOI's. CIPC is in process to communicate with banks where you would be able to indicate, on your company registration document, that the Standard MOI is applicable, and you would than not need the barcoded MOI.

Self help system

The Self Help Centre in Sunnyside, is the first of many that will be opened country wide. It is however only for public use, and third parties, like accountants, will not be able to use the system.

It will work on fingerprint access, and once you have been registered on the system, directors will be able to effect changes by logging in with their fingerprints. The following functions will be availble:

New company registrations

Annual returns

Directors amendments

Address change

Financial year end change

Disclosures

Error on business main activity

There was an issue where some pre-existing companies' main business activities were erroneously changed to manufacturing. If this occurred, just mail the querie to the following maid address to be corrected: lsteenkamp@cipc.co.za

Waiver of cost of Name change from a generated number

Where a company opted for a registration number as a name, the first name change would not be charged.

MOI Amendments

MOI amendments should not take more than 20 working days from lodgement.

Email lodgements

All email lodgements should get an automated response. Lodgements should not duplicate.

Customer information

Customers need to keep profiles up to date. With e-mail lodgements, communication could go missing if information at CIPC is not up to date.

Liquidations

Liquidation confirmation letter is proof that liquidation has been done. Documentation will be kept by Master or custodian. CM 26/ CoR 40.1 will not be issued anymore. The Master can request it directly from CIPC. Notice was issued in November.

Incorrect information given by Call Centre Staff

Please keep details of call centre staff if you communicate with them. If wrong information was given, CIPC would like to be informed so that adequate training can then be given to the respective staff member.

Final deregistration of companies

Final deregistration could not be done the last 4 months, but will start again at the end of March. Deregistrations will then be done on a weekly basis. Companies with outstanding annual returns older than January 2013 will be deregistered. Companies will be deregistered with 2 years of outstanding annual returns.

CIPC are aware of typing errors, staff training and review is being implemented.

Accountant resigning

Currently, once an accountant has resigned, there is no document issued to confirm resignation. CIPC is working on a document that could be issued on resignation, to keep accountant from being liable after resignation. Also, CC's without accounting officers will be flagged and contacted. But this is not yet working, and needs to be followed up with CIPC at next meeting.

Error on COR39

On some accounts an error has occurred when doing an electronic CoR 39. If this happens a manual CoR 39 must be done. In such a case those mannual submissions will be priority as electronic submissions will not be possible with the error. CIPC is working on this.

Resolving queries

If a lodgement was returned due to a query, the entire pack must be mailed to the stated mail address in the mail. Do not reply to the mail, as it will just go back in the que. The ommited documents or information must be added to the pack, and the mail must then be sent to the mail address given.

Changing from auditor to reviewer

Auditors need to remove themselves by using CoR 44. Reviewers do not need a CoR form to be appointed.

In the past if an Auditor resigned he had to be replaced. They are working on the function that will allow a resignation as auditor without having to replace the auditor.

Voluntary audits

CIPC considering if this appointed will also have to be done using a CoR form.

Disqualified accountants still in practice

CIPC needs an updated list from accounting and auditing bodies to ensure that disqualified accountants and auditors cannot be appointed. This is currently happening.

System problems

All system problems can be mailed to: Ronelf@cipc.co.za

]]>LAW AND REGULATION Thu, 27 Mar 2014 15:32:39 GMTROE deadline extendedhttp://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166468/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/166468/The Department of Labour has extended the deadline for the submission of the 2013 Return of Earnings (Form W.As.8). The normal submission date is every year on the 31st of March. The deadline has been extended from 31 March to 31 May 2014. The Return of Earnings form for 2013 deals with information from the period 01 March 2013 to 28 February 2014.

The 2013 assessment period will be opened for transacting on the ROE website from 1 April 2014.

]]>LEGISLATION WATCHThu, 27 Mar 2014 15:28:29 GMTAccounting for the underworld http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/165109/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/165109/Are accounting services amoral? Does it matter what type of business your client is in? Do we just collate the information presented to us without regard to the source of the information?

Consider the following three cases. In Colorado recreational use of marijuana has been legalised. This has enabled that State to generate new tax revenues. Apparently marijuana shops now outnumber Starbucks branches in the state capital Denver.

As an accountant would you prepare financial statements for a marijuana shop? Would you have done so prior to the product being legalised?

A former playboy playmate has been sentenced to one year in jail – because she did not declare her “gifts” from services delivered to a German brewery heir. These gifts reportedly included cash, cars, jewellery, exotic holidays, shopping sprees and an apartment, which she later sold without paying tax.

As an accountant would you have prepared financial statements for this business? As an accountant do you just apply the rules of accounting to the numbers presented to you? Or are you required to apply moral judgment in questioning the source of the income?

Before you answer, consider the last case.

During World War II at the direction of SS Lieutenant-General Pohl accountants prepared financial statements for Concentration camps that leased out their prisoners to for-profit corporations. General Pohl’s accountant meticulously applied accounting rules: life expectancy for workers are set at nine months, as this is the life expectancy from the time of initial employment. Other revenue represents valuables and currency taken from the employee, gold extracted from the teeth of the deceased, and revenue on sales of personal clothing, hair, fat for soap, and ashes for fertilizer.

Is accounting still amoral? Should we be more careful and circumspect as to the type of clients we elect to serve?

As accountants we are in possession of scarce skills and competencies. Not all clients deserve our attention. We need to respect ourselves and our abilities.

Editorial - SAIBA Newsletter March 2014Nicolaas van Wyk

]]>EDITORIALThu, 27 Mar 2014 05:00:00 GMTGuide for micro entities using IFRS for SMEhttp://saiba.site-ym.com/news/159265/
http://saiba.site-ym.com/news/159265/The IASB has issued a guide for micro entities that want to prepare financial statements using IFRS for SME. Basically the IASB has removed items not likely to be applied by micro entities and delivered a concise version of IFRS for SME.

The guide include many examples including a set of financial statements.

Members can obtain CPD point by reading the guide and answering a number of questions related to each section of the guide.

The first set of questions are available here. By successfully completing the questions members will be able to automatically update their CPD profile. The questions are linked to the members profile and will update the the members CPD hours.